Angelic Paranoia

Although Lois heard the deafening thud of two teenagers coming down the stairs, she stayed focused on her laptop until Clark stepped into her office.

"We're going rock climbing." He grinned, excitedly.

"Okay," she said slowly. She was surprised, having not heard any of the three of them express any interest in rock climbing. She wasn't sure where the idea had come from, having had no inkling of it before now. But she trusted Clark and if the boys were keen - or at least willing - she wasn't going to stop them.

"You can come too, if you like."

She shook her head. She hated turning down a family outing, even if she would be the one watching from the side. But she would have to settle for hearing about it later. "I have a deadline. But you three have fun."

"We will." He grinned and left.

When they returned the boys managed to sound more like baby elephants going up the stairs than they had coming down. But there was no chatter this time, which Lois knew was a bad sign.

At least she'd finished her article, so had time to hear the story when Clark came into her office.

He leaned against the door frame with a sigh. "Jordan struggled with not using his super strength and Jonathan accused him of doing it to make him look bad."

She made a face, hating the way they squabbled. It was always worse when they were out of their comfort zone. Which they were often, since moving to Smallville and Jordan developing powers.

"Don't take it too badly," she said, going over to Clark to hug him. "At least you got them out of the house and trying something new. It's not your fault they'd rather be playing video games."

"There's an idea." He let go of her to pull out his phone and type something into it. He'd forgotten her as he wandered out into the hall.

She shrugged and let him go, sure she'd find out eventually.

"Sure you don't want to come with us to Metropolis?" Clark asked, finishing his coffee.

"I have this story." It wasn't that urgent and could have waited until tomorrow. But Clark had found a place in Metropolis where you could play video games in VR. The boys would love it and Clark would probably get into it. But it didn't appeal to her. She could have tagged along for the drive and done her own thing once she was there, but a family trip wasn't the same if they she wasn't with them the whole time. Besides, she knew this was about Clark spending time with the boys, even if he hadn't said so.

"We'll bring you back take-out," he promised, before she could ask.

She smiled a thank you and kissed him goodbye.

The take-out was from her favorite restaurant in Metropolis. She'd missed it, since they moved. However, since it was a long drive, it needed reheating. She unpacked it and begun loading the microwave. "How did it go?"

Clark leaned on the back of one of the chairs and sighed. "I was terrible at it. So bad that the boys kicked me out. I spend the whole time hanging about by the vending machines in the lobby."

With the microwave on she turned to him to frown. "I thought Superman would be great at it"

He shook his head. "Superman wasn't there, Clark Kent was."

So Jordan couldn't help using super strength if he was doing something new, but Clark could suppress his powers so much he was worse than a normal human. She didn't understand how it worked at all. Clark had explained it to her, more than once, but she suspected it was impossible to understand unless you'd experienced it.

"At least the boys had fun." She'd heard their excited chatter as they came in, reliving the best bits of their games.

But Clark sighed again. "I was supposed to be spending time with them. To make up for all of the times I wasn't there."

She ignored the microwave pinging to go over to him and take his hands. "You don't have to do activities with them to be a good dad. They're teenagers now, it's not like when they were little and had to be entertained all the time."

He didn't look convinced, though.

She tried a different tack, because he was going to beat himself up about not being around when Superman had lives to save. "Your dad was a good dad, right?"

He nodded.

"What sort of things did he do with you when you were fourteen?"

"Farm chores mostly." He smiled at the memory. "Do you think that's what I should do with them?"

"Yes, if you need help on the farm." But that hadn't been what she meant at all. "When dinner's ready they'll come down and we'll all sit around the table. They'll tell us about the games they played, and we'll listen and praise their skills. That's all they need. Just for you to be there to listen."

"Really?" He still looked skeptical.

"Really."

He dropped her hands and wrapped his arms around her instead. "What would I do without you?"

She smiled. "Be a big dorky mess."

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